teach.us List of requirements and solutions (WordPress/BuddyPress)

This document lists the requirements for the teach.us online platform and possible solutions in WordPress.

Requirements	Solution	Comments
General
free	OK
open source	OK
allows user generated content	OK
Tools
Social Community	BuddyPress Plugin	Offers Extended Profiles, Activity, Forum, Groups
Videos	Uploaded directly on server or on Youtube	As parts of Blog entries in "Practices" or in WIKI / Pages as part of "basic information"
WIKI	Plugin	Can be used for the "Basic Information" section
Blogs	WordPress basic function	Can be used for the "Practices" section
Forum	Is part of the BuddyPress Plugin	Can be used for Communication/Discussion, forums are connected to groups
Groups	Are part of the BuddyPress Plugin	Can be used to form language groups, we would need an additional "international" or "general" group, because forum threads are based on groups
Links	Are part of WordPress	can be categorized
Functionaliites
Tagging of Contents	Tag Cloud is part of WordPress
Categories	WordPress offers a multi-level category system
Languages	Realized by Plugin	Two Options: Elements not translated yet for a certain language can be displayed nevertheless (in English) or not in that language. Interface has to be translated once for every language
Rating	Realized by Plugin	Proposal: 5-star rating for Blog-Entries and (WIKI-)Pages Thumbs up/down for comments
Personal Environments	WordPress: Dashboard, Profiles BuddyPress plugin: Extended Profiles, Avatars
Role system	5 general roles + special roles, if necessary	Proposal: IMI, Proinov, ILI "Administrators" Other partners "Authors" Later some/all partners can become "Editors" with rights to edit user entries (e.g. to delete spam, etc.) Users: "Authors"
Import/Export of Contents	There are different import/export possibilites for content to/from WordPress
Usability (1 low - 5 high)
Overall user-friendliness/interface	WordPress/BuddyPress offers good flexibility in adapting the interface to usablitiy demands	We should carry out some kind of a usability testing internally shortly after the platform was set-up and user-based at a later point in time (as part of the evaluation activities)
Clarity of main page/other pages	It is possible to adapt the interface to this need with great flexibility. It is possible to have the blog or another page as "home" page	Proposal: To have an "about" page as the main/starting page with some general information about the projects and some initial help for beginners/new users
User registration process	Self-registration of users is possible	We should allow self-registration, but should in any case install some security plugins (e.g. captcha) to avoid spam-bots. An alternative (in case we get to much spam) is to have one or more administrators for acceptance of registration-requests. The site should be open with read-access for non-registered users anyway.
Administration	WordPress and most Plugins have a comfortable administration area.	At the moment also the "dashboard" and "add new posts" are hidden in the administration area. We should try to implement these as direct links on the main interface

teach.us platform sections and their contents/elements

Sections	Section Name	Contents/Elements	Comments
Main Menu
Home/About	About	General Information about the project website and Tutorials	Short general paragraphs and links to subpages
Activity	Activity		is automatically processed by BuddyPress
Members	Members		is automatically processed by BuddyPress
Groups	Groups	General Group, National Groups, Group for Project Partners, Experts?, Beginners?
Forums	Forum	Threads for areas of discussions, e.g. "benefits", "success factors", "barriers", "institutional aspects", "skills", "tools", etc.
Blog	Practices	Good Practice collection posted by Project Partners and users containing text, images and videos
WIKI	Basic Information	A general structure for this should be developed seperately on the basis of UNA results
Experts/Advanced	Experts/Advanced	Should contain advanced information, literature, articles, links, etc.	Could be partly realised in WIKI format
Sidebar
Who's online	Who's online
Languages	Languages
Administration	Administration	rss could be placed somewhere else, link to wordpress.org could be deleted
Categories	Categories	what are the main categories
Tag Cloud	Tag Cloud	a systematic is currently developed by Arcola
Other
New Post	Add Post	A quick access to add a new blog post for the practices section
Dashboard	My Site ?	A quick access to the dashboard (at the moment it is confusing to use the "site admin" link)